The Little Mermaid
by Saene
Summary: Kari, the Nimphel of the merepeople, has fallen in love with Prince Randal. Will she be able to win his love without her voice or must she return to her ocean after three days pass?
1. Ocean and Land

Chapter One

_Note: This is going to be another story of mine that takes a long time to finish because it has a very complex plot._

_Disclaimer: I own everything except the basic plot/title and Elana, Randall, and Kari who are from Far Side of Evil and the names, which are based on elven words._

Kari couldn't speak. That's the best way to describe it. It wasn't a curse like most books tell it. Well, maybe it was. It was some type of magic that had been on her since she was born. Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me explain to you the circumstances of Kari's life.

There is a tradition among mere-people, the Norelin as they are originally called. Land folk were the ones that began calling them things like mermaids and mermen but, like most of the things we hear about them, it has been exasperated. As I was saying, there is a tradition were the third daughter of the Norelin, the Nimphel as she was called, was placed under a spell so she could never speak. It was related somehow to their gods and powers but by the time I learned of this it was long forgotten.

You should also know about Kari and what her people where really like. First of all, they didn't have fins. That was completely untrue, they could swim as if they could. The Norelin also couldn't breath water, they could hold their breath for a inhumanly amount of time. I, of course, have never tried to test how long they could stay underwater. They do live in the ocean. They have kingdom where there are gaps of air in hidden coves.

The Norelin usually have silver skin and blueish-green hair. There are many ranges of colors so they do not all look alike. And also they wear silvery blue-green clothes to blend into the water. Kari happened to be more of an exception to most of these. She did were the same clothes but her hair was more of a dark brown and her skin had more of a peach tint. There was a lot of whispering about strange breeding about her.

Not to say many saw her. Kari was the Nimphel so she was mostly alone except guards and her maid, Sinta. Sinta was an old woman that was all but Kari's mother to her. Sinta taught her everything and protected her from all. And Sinta was the one that helped her realize to follow her heart.


	2. Under the Sea

Chapter Two

_Disclaimer: I own everything except the basic, basic plot/title and Elana, Randall, and Kari who are from Far Side of Evil and the names, which are based on elven words and the mindspeech._

Kari swam into the waves, looking behind her to make sure Sinta wouldn't catch up with her. It was one of the rare occasions that she could forget who she was and what she could go back to.

:Come and catch me: she thought happily to Sinta, lucky that she had the gift of mind-speech when so few of the Norelin did. After a few minutes of not hearing her friend, Kari got worried. :Sinta: she thought, stopping. Sinta didn't have mind-speech so she couldn't answer that way but she still could have answered normally.

Kari saw that they had gotten close to the shore and realized that Sinta must have stopped when they got too close and wouldn't talk when they were so near. She was about to go find Sinta when she saw someone moving. Kari's curiosity stopped her from going before she got a good look at them.

It was a man. He was the most beautiful man Kari had ever seen and as soon as she glanced at him, she fell in love. She wished she could go talk to him and would have at least tried, but Sinta appeared by her side and put her hand on Kari's should.

'Don't' the old woman said, 'he's not one of our kind. He'll only bring sadness and death.' Kari took one more look at him and then swam back to the palace with Sinta.

:Is there any way: Kari begged Sinta. It had been a day since she had seen the man and she felt like she needed to talk to him. The old woman shook her head.

:I'll do anything: she cried. Her friend looked at her strangely.

'Anything? Even if it will never work?'

:Just to see him and see if he loves me. If I don't, I'll die.:

'First I must tell you a story and if you still must,' Sinta sighed, 'we'll find a way.' Kari nodded, eagerly. 'Ok, ok, I'll tell,' the woman paused thoughtfully, 'you have an uncle, you know. He also fell in love with one of the land folk.' Then why is it such a problem when I do, Kari thought impatiently hoping Sinta would get to the point soon. 'He went on shore one day and with in a week we found him dead. I don't want the same thing happening to you,' Sinta's eyes filled up with tears. Kari felt guilt but she also needed to meet the man so much.

:I don't care. I love him! I need to go: Kari thought stubbornly.

'I can tell your father that we are leaving for a few days,' Sinta said thoughtfully, 'but if you're not back in three days I'll tell him the truth and you'll be banished.' Kari shuddered at the thought of banishment, but she had already made up her mind to go.


	3. A Strange Night

Chapter Three

_Note: So Elana isn't ever Elanaish in this. I couldn't help it. I needed her to be more instinctive to get the story moving._

For once in her life, Kari was completely alone. She knew no one in the town and spent her time hiding and listening, hoping to find about the man. After a few hours, Kari was about to give up when she saw him ride up in a troop of guards. All around her she heard whispers of who he was. He was the prince. Prince Randall to be exact.

'I come to remind you of the ball at the palace tonight,' the prince said. After a few more details, he left. The town was a buzz upon that and Kari got to learn more about him. He was a kind prince and did this like this all the time. A bit of an idiot when it came to war, but he was kind.

Kari realized she had to go to the ball. She could wear her normal clothes and hope that they did not stand out to much. She couldn't think to far ahead of she would frighten herself and give up going.

Getting into the ball was easy. Now Kari had to worry about talking to the prince when she could talk and Sinta had warned her about using mind-speech on the landies. Kari silently laughed at the title. It was one of the names children of her people called the land-folk as an insult.

'Hello, you look different,' said a voice from behind Kari. Kari swiftly turned around and found herself face to face with a girl about her age. The girl looked like most land-folk except her hair was about as dark as Kari's. Most land-folk had blond hair.

'My name is Elana, well, Princess Elana,' she then pointed at the prince, 'he's my younger brother.' Elana sighed. Kari stood in shock of this strange girl and realized that she was waiting for something. Kari's name. Kari hesitantly held out a piece of paper. Sinta had known enough of the landies language to write down Kari's name.

'Kari,' Elana read, 'What, you can't speak?' Kari shook her head. Elana looked at her guiltily.

'I'm sorry. I didn't mean it was a bad thing. Are you here with anyone?' Kari shook her head again. 'Then you must be my friend. Come!' Elana hurried off with Kari just behind her. Kari wondered if this was the way to meet Randall. Elana was a bit, well, strange and for someone that lived under the ocean for most of her life, most things didn't affect her like this.


	4. Part of Your World

Chapter Four

Outside her window Kari could watch the waves carry ocean objects in and out. She wondered what was happening beneath the surface. She felt guilty about leaving Sinta alone to make her excuses, but she had no choice. Kari sighed, turning around to see Elana standing in her door way.

'I need to go to the library this morning,' the dark haired girl told her. Elana had been nice to her the night before and when she had learned that Kari had no place to go, she gave Kari use of a room in the palace. The princess was going to show her around that morning, but it now Elana had to do something first.

'You can come with me,' Elana continued, 'or you can stay here.' Kari motioned that go wanted to go with Elana. She had only hear about land dwellings and desired to see as much as she could before her three days were up. She followed Elana down the halls; trying to look at all she could without losing her guide.

When they reached the library, Elana headed off in look for what she needed, telling Kari that she would be done in about an hour and Kari could look at almost anything she wanted. Kari could not read any of the books, but it was nice to just walked through the silent library, looking at all the types of literature.

A noise behind her, warned Kari she was not alone. As she looked behind her, she saw it was Randal. He was also looking through the books and after finding the one he wanted, he saw her and spoke.

'Hullo. You're Kari, right?' he asked. Kari nodded as he continued, 'Are you here to read? I don't want to interrupt you if you were doing something.' This time Kari shook her head, wishing she could actually speak. She was going to get sick of head movements very quickly at the rate this was going.

'Well if you're not, maybe you would like to go to dinner with me.' When he said that Kari realized it was already after noon. She nodded but then realized that she should go tell Elana were she was going. Randal seemed to read her mind because he lead her to his sister and told Elana where they were going. Elana's eyes narrowed and something made Kari guess that Elana and Randal would be fighting if she wasn't there. Of course by the way the brother and sister were staring at each other, it seemed like they were already fighting.

**Author's note: If you have read Far Side of Evil you will have probably guessed what is going on here. If you haven't, well poor you. It will be made clear in the later chapters, but only what Kari knows of it. You may get more out of it if you read Evil.**


End file.
